Clarification on Intel VT-d

[karthikvm]

Hi,

I am a graduate student pursuing research in GPGPU many-core computing. Hence I need a fair enough GPU, as my research is not throughput oriented but on synchronization primitives for GPUs and I may also run virtual machines.

I found the deal (Enhance your IdeaPad Y400 Laptop - 59360114 - Dusk Black: Weekly Deal | Lenovo | (US)) to fit my needs.
But the processor specs for Core i7 3630 QM says (ARK | Intel® Core) there is no Intel VT-d.
But I have read somewhere that Intel VT-d is not dependent on the processor but on the motherboard and bios.

My questions are:

1) Can some one comment whether I can use Intel VT-d on this laptop?
2) Also since I am running virtual machines as part of my research does Intel VT-d is needed for that?
3) Any comment on the machine? as I never owned Lenevo before?

Thanks for your time,
karthik

 

[mbreslin1954]

No, you cannot use Intel VT-d, as the ARK site clearly says it is not available to that CPU. What you read somewhere is mistaken, Intel VT-d is clearly dependent on the processor. You can see this by looking up an 17-3770 CPU on the site and it says that it is available, yet the same site says it is not available on the i7-3630 QM. Intel's website has no idea what motherboard you may use on either CPU -- how could it? The site is an Intel CPU site, it only discusses what technology comes with what CPUs. VT-d has not much to do with the motherboard, although it may require motherboard support in order to work (I know my motherboards have the ability in UEFI to turn it off or on).

Here's what Intel's ARK site says about VT-d:

Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) continues from the existing support for IA-32 (VT-x) and Itanium® processor (VT-i) virtualization adding new support for I/O-device virtualization. Intel VT-d can help end users improve security and reliability of the systems and also improve performance of I/O devices in virtualized environments.

Yes, you can run virtual machines without it, I've done so, but I'm sure the I/O of the VMs will not be as fast without VT-d. I can't tell you the difference, but common sense says there will be one.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

+1 mbreslin1954

VT-d all comes down to the ability to assign hardware to a VM. So I can assign a LAN connection or something else to be dedicated to a VM that is going on. In order to use VT-d you need to a processor that supports it but also a board with the feature enabled on it.

 

[karthikvm]

Thanks a lot for your answers mbreslin1954 & IntelEnthusiast. I really appreciate it.

 

[elayer12]

To say it clear,

NO laptop will support VT-D, even if the processor is supporting VT-D. This is, because all laptop-mainboards DO NOT SUPPORT VT-D.

There are only desktop pcs with the capability of supporting the VT-D of the processor.